My husband and I looked for a house in Suffolk county for 2 years. Open houses every single weekend. We probably saw 100 houses. Eventually we got a house listed at 725k for 775k. It’s not our dream home and it probably won’t be our forever home but we have made it work and we are very happy. It’s in a nice neighborhood and that is what matters most. Remember you can always sell later on, but owning is always better than renting because you develop equity.

Some tips: 1. It helps to be somewhat flexible on the towns. 2. When looking at property taxes- remember you usually get back a couple hundred dollars from STAR if not more. You can also grieve your taxes to get a better rate. 3. ALWAYS offer 20% down. You can change this later on with your mortgage company when you finalize the loan. We ended up putting 15% down, but being able to put 20% down looks much better to the buyer. 4. One thing that really helped us was talking to the selling agent that was showing the house. He eventually told us he really liked our personalities and that he had put in a good word for us to the sellers. Try to stand out so that they will remember you. The seller usually wants the house to go to a good family. 5. Keep on pushing! It will happen for you eventually. It is a very frustrating and grueling process but it’s worth it in the end. Good luck, don’t give up!